Global Spiral :: Authors

George Vaillant

George E. Vaillant, M.D. is a psychiatrist and Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Vaillant has spent his research career charting adult development and the recovery process of schizophrenia, heroin addiction, alcoholism, and personality disorder. He has spent the last 30 years as Director of the Study of Adult Development at the Harvard University Health Service. The study has prospectively charted the lives of over 700 men for over 60 years.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Vaillant did his residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and completed his psychoanalytic training at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute.

The Evolution of Spirituality
During adult maturation cognitive religious belief tends to evolve toward emotional spiritual trust. But the issue is not religion versus spirituality, but immature faith versus mature faith. Immature faith draws a circle that pencils some people out. Mature faith draws a circle that pencils all people in.